Aristocracy - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

AristocracyPeasants and SerfsWomen and ChildrenWitchcraftSocial effects of the industrial revolution

Social Changes in Europe from 1300-1700Slide2

The AristocracyThe aristocratic resurgence was an 18th century reaction of the European Nobility to the threat to their social position and privileges that they felt from the expanding power of the monarchies of pre-revolutionary Europe. These nobles demanded exclusivity, wanted to have the most powerful position in the army, and demanded exemption from taxation.Slide3

Peasants and SerfsDiscontent had been brewing among the serfs since 1762, when Tsar Peter III passed legislation that many serfs interpreted as the first step toward their emancipation. Several months later, Peter was murdered and his wife, later known as Catherine the Great, ascended the throne. As far as the serfs were concerned, Catherine’s rule wasn’t so great. One of her first acts on ascending the throne was to annul Peter’s legislation. Instead of gaining their freedom, serfs suffered from increasing burdens of compulsory service and imaginative taxation.Slide4

Peasants and SerfsThe Peasant Rebellions began.Pugachev’s Rebellion- The biggest revolt of the 18th century. Pugachev promised the peasants freedom from serfdom and control of their own land. This caused an

uprise

in the peasant and serf community. They tried to overthrow Catherine the Great in the name of Peter the Great. The rebellion ultimately failed because it only ended with Catherine putting more restraints on them.Slide5

Women and ChildrenThroughout Europe the household was a fundamental unit in production and consumption. The household consisted of the parents their children through early teen years, and servants. Each member had a different role as far as the family economy was concerned.By age seven, girls were contributing to the family economy. She might look after the chickens, water the animals, or carry food to the adult workers. The girls would remain at home as long as they could contribute to the family.

Most of them however left the household between the ages of 12–14. They would migrate to other farms, cities or towns and become working servants. A young woman’s primary goal was to accumulate a dowry. This was a gift given to the new household at the time of marriage.

A married woman was a function to her husband's occupation. She would do things from collecting grain to plowing fields to begging during an economic depression.

The role of the children was slightly different. The child was at times an economic burden, although in some cases the more children you had the more workers you had, making a more efficient family economy.

Women felt confined and restrained.Slide6

WitchcraftOutbreaks of witchcraft hysteria, with subsequent mass executions, began in the early 16th Century in Europe. Although the Reformation divided Europe between Protestant regions and those loyal to the Pope, the Protestants took the crime of witchcraft no less seriously than the Catholics. The vast majority of those who fell under suspicion of witchcraft were women.Germany saw Europe's greatest execution rates of witches, higher than those in the rest of the continent combined. It is estimated that over the 160 years from 1500 to 1660, between 50,000 and 80,000 suspected witches were executed (about 80% of them women), including about 26,000 in Germany and about 10,000 in France. England executed significantly less than 1,000 during that same period and Ireland just 4, due in part to better procedural safeguards in those countries for defendants.

The witch hunt reached its peak in Europe during the late 16th and early 17th Century, before tailing off after the 1640s. However, witch-hunting merely shifted from one side of the Atlantic to the other, particularly with the famous outbreak of witch hysteria in Salem in 1692. The very last execution for witchcraft in Europe took place in Poland in 1793, although sporadic deaths still occur in other parts of the worldSlide7

Social Effects of the Industrial RevolutionBefore the Revolution most people lived in small villages, working either in agriculture or as skilled craftsmen. They lived and often worked as a family, doing everything by hand. In fact, three quarters of Britain's population lived in the countryside, and farming was the predominant occupation. With the advent of industrialization, everything changed.

The new enclosure laws—which required that all grazing grounds be fenced in at the owner's expense—had left many poor farmers bankrupt and unemployed, and machines capable of huge outputs made small hand weavers redundant. As a result, there were many people who were forced to work at the new factories. This required them to move to towns and cities so that they could be close to their new jobs. It also meant that they made less money for working longer hours. Add to this the higher living expenses due to urbanization, and one can easily see that many families' resources would be extremely stretched.

As a result, women and children were sent out to work, making up 75% of early workers. Families were forced to do this, since they desperately needed money, while factory owners were happy to employ women and children for a number of reasons.Slide8

Jocelyn BabbittLeandra HudsonFrancis boaduIsaiah PfeifferCalyn WhitleySocial Changes in Europe from 1300-1700